Is Surgery the Answer or Just a Fad?
Today I’m feeling like a fatty mc-fat-fat. So, I’ve been a little bit weak in the good eating department. But in the wake of my holiday bad eating habits, I see a little blurb in the news this morning that Weight Loss Surgeries (mainly gastric by-pass) are on the rise. Not a little rise, I’m talking a whopping 450% from 1998 to 2002 in the US, according to a new study. Rise? That seems like a title wave, not to mention, a wee bit alarming.
While gastric by-pass was once only for the severely obese, a typical by-pass operative today may only be a mere 50 to 80 pounds overweight. Something good eating habits, exercise, and old fashioned will power could maybe melt away, right?
With the extreme rise in publicity and celebrity endorsements (Carnie Wilson, Al Roker) and the development of extremely less-invasive laparoscopic techniques, weight loss surgeries are becoming more popular and easier said than done. Is weight loss surgery becoming a fad or better yet, is America just looking for a quick fix?
Now for many, weight loss surgery is the last resort. They see it as the only way to lose weight after they’ve tried everything imaginable. Many, due to severe health conditions have no choice—and it’s helped change millions of people’s lives. That’s what gastric by-pass is for, right?
But then there is the other side—I’ll call it the dark side of weight loss surgery. Those people who don’t really WANT to eat well and live a healthy lifestyle, but want to lose the weight. There is that increasing percentage of operatives that are looking for an easy way out. I know, I had a friend who had gastric by-pass because she was too lazy to go on a diet. Yes, she lost some weight–but unfortuately still drinks milkshakes and lives an unhealthy lifestyle.
This leads me to my point. Shouldn’t doctors practice a certain amount of responsibility before performing such a life changing procedure? Should paitients have to meet certain requirements before having the surgery? Or, should a person be able to do it no matter what?
I have a feeling many of you will have a lot of comments about this subject.
Let me throw some questions out there…
Have any of you had gastric by-pass?
How has it changed your life??
If you had to do it over again, would you?
Is your weight loss surgery permanent?